Thursday 29 January 2009

After receiving all the advice about mental focus and preparation, I rocked up to training tonight with stars in my eyes. As has been the same for the last few weeks, my nutrition demands were sorted and today I was neither tired nor particularly fresh. My warm up was sharp and I enjoyed it. I also had an epiphany that I shall share later in the post. Here is what I did:

Jerk Skill with the barPower Clean and Jerk--1x2@60 1x1@70, 80, 90Overhead Squats--5x5--Again, I did a lot of dynamic flexibility for the hip girdle and legs in between all the different warm up exercises. I see my warm ups as a physical preparation but also as a chance to improve my skill in the drills themselves which will hopefully carry over to the main lifts.

Drop Snatch--1x3@bar, 40, 50, 60--I read in a Bill Starr article that I should go up on my toes slightly in the jerk in order to enhance foot speed. This helped in the drop snatches because my feet were fast and they banged less on the floor, which is something that several people told me to improve on.

Snatch--1x2@65, 70 1x1@78, 85, 90, 94--I missed the first rep and nailed the second. I then did three singles on 96, but I missed the second and third reps. The strength was there but the speed and timing was off. I was hitting the bar out and dropping back also, rather than dropping straight down. It was disappointing, but it is the first time I have missed more than one lift in the Snatch for ages, so it had to happen. This is 91% of my 1RM and the second half of my third week of increasing the volume, which is something I have never done. I have to be realistic, but at the same time optimistic.

Cleans--I did two pnf clean grip exercises first and these have helped my rack position immensely.1x1@80, 90, 100, 110, 115, 120, 124, 127--These cleans were strong but slower than usual and not as smooth as they usually would be. They felt very similar to my Snatches. 127 is 94% of my top Clean and Jerk.Back Squats--I was in a rush tonight and my legs were also in tatters, so I did a quick few sets and had to leave.1x3@100, 120, 130, 140--This last set is around 82.5% of my best Back Squat.

As for epiphany, it was very simple. I have been told it several times and I have read it several times, but today was the first time I ever truly felt the movement of pushing myself under the bar in the jerk. Just before my warm up I was thinking about things I have read and I decided that today I would go out of way in the warm up and teach my body what it felt like to push my body under the bar rather than jerk the barbell up. Laura did not notice any difference in the appearance of my technique, but it felt different to me. By pushing myself under, it got my body locked in and through the jerk and also got my under the bar, which is something I have struggled with. Now all I have to do is the x amount of repetitions so that my body becomes fluent in the movement. Easy, eh?